Senior Stuart Walters was charged with multiple accounts of sex offenses, false imprisonment, property destruction and assault after an altercation with his girlfriend on Tuesday, Aug. 2. The News-Letter reported on this incident on Aug. 13 after obtaining information from The Baltimore Sun, and the University has not released a statement or sent out a security alert about the incident.
The Editorial Board recognizes that the University has said it will not comment on an ongoing investigation or trial, but the Office of Campus Safety and Security has previously sent out security alerts or public safety advisories in similar instances.
On July 9, Campus Security sent out an alert about a fourth degree sex offense when the perpetrator had not been apprehended, and on Nov. 10, 2015, their office notified students of a sexual assault that had happened in a dorm on campus about ten days prior.
The University’s Director of Media Relations Tracy Reeves said that no security alert was issued because the suspect was already in custody. However, in the instance of the on campus sexual assault mentioned above, the attacker was known by the University and was facing consequences, and an alert was still sent out with the heading “To keep you informed.”
In addition, on July 24, Campus Security issued a public safety advisory following an assault on one JHMI affiliate and one non affiliate by two suspects both of whom were apprehended and arrested prior to the email being sent out.
The Editorial Board believes the University should have either notified students with a security alert or should have released a public statement of what had happened.
This situation is analogous to that of Brock Turner, a convicted rapist and former student at Stanford University. Unlike Hopkins, Stanford notified students and the greater community of the incident and how the school was taking action against Turner. The incident occurred on Jan. 18, 2015, and The Stanford News, an official news source published by the University, issued a statement on Jan. 28 of the same year.
In the statement, Stanford explained that Turner was being charged by the police, and that he was ineligible to re-enroll in school. Additionally, the university conducted its own Title IX investigation separately from that of the police. Stanford also gave a reason for not issuing a security alert.
“In compliance with the Jeanne Cleary Act, no campus emergency alert was issued in the incident, because the suspect was immediately in custody and there was not an ongoing or immediate threat to the campus community,” the statement read.
The Editorial Board recognizes that Hopkins was under no legal obligation to inform students of the incident, but we believe that they should have practiced greater transparency by at least releasing a statement similar to Stanford’s, especially in wake of all the publicity the Brock Turner case has received.
The Editorial Board acknowledges that the University has taken certain steps to educate the student body and to prevent instances of sexual assault. We commend the University for implementing mandatory Bystander Intervention Training (BIT) for all new freshmen during orientation, as well as for all athletes.
In addition to greater transparency and more effective communication with the student body, we suggest the implementation of programs that address domestic violence. These programs could be tied in with the already mandatory BIT and would focus on preventing sexual assault and domestic violence.
We advise the University to formally address the Walters case and ask for greater transparency in this matter and others like it. We suggest that Hopkins follow the model set out by Stanford in informing the student body of these incidents.
